Alabama basketball’s 2024-25 schedule got even tougher, according to a report published Friday morning.

The Tide is scheduling a home-and-home series with Purdue, locking in a pair of Final Four teams for two highly-anticipated matchups. The first will be at Purdue’s Mackey Arena, with a follow-up in 2025 at Coleman Coliseum, per Jon Rothstein of College Hoops Today.

Alabama’s roster is already one of the best on paper heading into the fall. With multiple highly-valued transfers and prospects, headlined by Rutgers’ big man Clifford Omoruyi and five-star Derrion Reid, Nate Oats will have a team that will likely play multiple nationally televised games in front of NBA scouts. Elite opponents will only make the matchups more enticing.

In addition to Purdue, which reached the Final Four for the second season in a row behind Zach Edey, the Tide has games scheduled against Creighton (the second half of a home-and-home series started a year ago), Illinois (the start of a new series finishing in 2025 in Chicago) and its usual batch of Southeastern Conference rivals, including Tennessee, Auburn and John Calipari-led Arkansas.

UA has also been linked to the Players Era Festival, a mid-season tournament in Las Vegas that could potentially see Alabama square off against Houston, Notre Dame, San Diego State and others. There has yet to be an official announcement by the university regarding a series of games against Purdue or Alabama’s entry into the festival.

Alabama has routinely scheduled tough non-conference games since Oats has turned the program into a national title contender. Last season, the Tide played Arizona, Creighton and Purdue in 11 days. It dropped all three contests — Alabama lost by six to Purdue in Toronto on Dec. 9 — but players cited that stretch as part of a turnaround into conference play. It was a good experience for the eventual run through the West Regional and the school’s first-ever national semifinal.

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello ranked the Tide sixth in his way-too-early top 25. Alabama awaits the NBA Draft decisions of Mark Sears and Jarin Stevenson.

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].